Wednesday, April 28, 2010

An update in the ethnography

I had my sixth interview with Adam Jackson, most notable on the Towson campus for his involvement in student organizations and being the columnist of "The Adam Jackson Report". I'm not going to comment too much about my thoughts on the interview and his ideas because I'm still developing my degree of objectivity and reflexivity. Because I am a black American, I have very, very, very strong issues concerning race and who should and should not say the n-word. I actually have spent the last 3-4 years of my life refusing to say the n-word after an epiphany in high school. In talking to these six men pictured above, my ideas have been both challenged and reaffirmed. So at this moment I am trying to find a good boundary between being a young black adult in everyday life and striving to be an anthropologist. As an ethnographer-filmmaker my goal is to create films allowing you to see the "big picture" through individuals and their lived experiences.

Additionally, representation is something I have struggled with since the beginning of this project. How many white people should I interview? How many women? What about other races and ethnicities that aren't black or white? Are interviews too limited? Should I film a classroom? Does representation even matter? It seems almost obvious to declare, "Yes, representation matters!" However, how can I acquire full representation on these racial issues? The answer is, I can't. I'm not going to be able to easily find someone who has ideas that greatly counter Adam Jackson or someone who's political views differ from Alex Peak. But to some extent I should try and have a wider range of voices from various backgrounds. I'm still scratching my head about this, but it will become more clear as I analyze the current footage.